When I was born my mum gave all relatives and friends a birth present with some chocolates. To present the chocolates my grandmother crocheted more
than a hundred doilies and made bowls with it using a sugar-water technique.
I still love doilies so much and of course you saw plenty of DIY on the internet with the vintage crocheted doilies, but as I can’t find them in Zimbabwe I was looking for an alternative.
So I thought let’s try the papier mâché technique on the paper doilies, and yes….the paper version you can find here in Africa without any problem and I liked the result, hope you’ll like it too!
Protect your work surface with some newspaper or use a tablecloth
Blow up your balloon. Depending on the size of your doily you can use a normal-sized balloon or the smaller waterbomb balloons.
Make the papier mâché. You’ll find lot’s of versions on the internet, but this one is very easy and worked very well.
Mix In a bowl 2/3 white PVA glue and 1/3 water.
Soak the doilies in the papier mâché paste. Layer the doily on your balloon.
I tested a variety of doilies and the best result you’ll get with the thicker doilies often coated with gold or silver.
Let it dry. It can take 24 hours, so be patient.
Pop the balloon. It's possible that you need to shape your bowl a little bit.
Lovely to use as an eastern basket, flower, table or wall decoration…..Enjoy!
All images by Véronique